Posted by To hasten development at the grass-roots level, particularly in agriculture, agro-allied industrialization, and vital infrastructure, the administration of Enugu State has announced that it will increase financing for development projects by local government councils in the state by 60%.
After a meeting of the Enugu State Economic Planning Commission on Monday at the Government House, Enugu, the government announced its plans to improve the economy in rural areas and provide employment opportunities for the city’s large youth population.
Shortly after a meeting with the council chairmen, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, addressed reporters at Government House, saying that the Mbah administration wanted to forge a progressive partnership with the local governments by providing marching funds for selected projects that align with the state government’s economic agenda.
According to the SSG, one of the main goals of the decision was to stimulate agro-allied processing zones and a land bank of 300,000 hectares for commercial farming, as well as to open up rural areas to economic development activities in the sphere of agriculture and agro-allied industrialisation.
Our strategy calls for local governments to visit residents in their own neighborhoods. The local governments have decided to open up the woodland areas that could be used as criminal hideouts.
But the most important thing is that they will increase rural economic activity and open it up for economic activity, creating new job prospects for our overpopulation of young people.
The state contributes 60% and the municipalities contribute 40%, thus the total is 100%. So, the state government will put in an additional 60% of whatever they bring for those capital projects. However, the SSG clarified that this was only for “agreed upon projects” between the state and the local governments.
Hon. Sydney Okechukwu Edeh, chairman of ALGON’s Enugu State chapter, praised Governor Mbah’s administration for the counterpart funding and said that the partnership with the state government would aid in the funding of priority projects that affect the lives of the people while also promoting transparency, accountability, and traceability in the management of local government funds by the council areas.
Since the local government sector has been experiencing difficulties implementing capital projects, I believe the governor has chosen to come to our aid.
But now that the state is willing to pay for as much as 60 percent of the cost of authorized projects, we will be encouraged to carry out not just a large quantity of projects, but also projects of a high quality, to the advantage of rural communities and economies.
Transparency, traceability, and accountability in our actions are of the utmost importance, so rest assured that these principles will underpin all we do. Therefore, it is a collaboration that needs to succeed, and we have no problem with that.
“As ALGON, we have assured the governor of our commitment and cooperation to make sure we move our state forward,” he continued.